Chronicles of Primitive Civilization’s Growth

Chapter 7: Chief Election

Luo Chong was weaving baskets, with several women from the foraging team helping nearby. It was a form of trade.

When they returned in the evening, Luo Chong noticed that these women were using animal skins to carry fruits. This made him unable to bear it because he still only had a pair of snake skin shorts. If there were animal skins available, why not give them to him? This was simply a waste of resources.

Thus, Luo Chong took a basket used for fishing, added two grass ropes and modified it into a backpack, promoting his handicrafts to them.

He offered to exchange the backpack for animal skins and teach them how to weave baskets. The women quickly agreed.

Animal skins could not hold much fruit and were inconvenient to carry. The backpack could hold more items and free up both hands when worn on the back.

Previously, when they picked fruits, they had to place the animal skins aside first and then put the fruits one by one onto the skins. If they picked too many at once, their hands couldn’t hold all of them. Dropping them under the tree risked damaging the fruits, making the process very inefficient. When traveling through the jungle, if they encountered wild beasts, they had to set the fruits aside first and then find weapons to defend themselves.

However, with the backpack, they could improve picking efficiency, free their hands, carry a wooden stick as a weapon while wearing the backpack, use the stick to scare snakes while walking, and react promptly to wild animals, significantly increasing survival chances in the jungle. The benefits were countless.

Originally, he planned to weave three baskets, but this time he only managed to weave two since they were meant for carrying fruits and were woven tightly enough to prevent even chestnuts from falling out.

The grass ropes used for the straps were also widened to avoid hurting the shoulders when carrying heavy loads. The women liked them immediately and took turns trying them on.

They selected two deer skins from the foraging team and gave them to Luo Chong, agreeing to look for vines the next day and return in the evening for Luo Chong to continue teaching them how to weave, aiming for everyone to have one. The women who didn’t get the backpacks envied them greatly and developed a favorable impression of Luo Chong.

The foraging team obtained the backpacks, and Luo Chong got the deer skins, becoming the first child in the tribe to wear animal skins. His peers also envied him.

Luo Chong wasn’t stingy; the deer skins were large, and he couldn’t use them all himself. He kept one and gave the other to the children, asking the mothers of toddlers aged two or three to make clothes for them.

There would be many things to do in the future, and their help would be needed again. Now was the time to build good relationships, so he absolutely couldn’t be stingy.

Their mothers were also happy. Who wouldn’t care about their own children? If they had extra animal skins, they would want their children to stay warm. Therefore, they were very grateful to Luo Chong.

In the entire tribe, apart from adult males, the most deaths were among children. Children had weak resistance, and in an era without medical technology, even a minor cold or fever could be fatal. One could say that each animal skin saved a life.

The ancient people weren’t fools either; they could tell who treated them well. In the future, if Luo Chong needed their help, they wouldn’t act ungratefully. Buying people’s hearts was effective in any era.

As night deepened, the people who had worked hard all day fell asleep. In the cave, only the firewood in the hearth crackled. Luo Chong lay in a pile of grass, holding two little kids in his arms, covered with deer skins and grass, slowly drifting off to sleep.

The night passed quietly. Luo Chong, who had been busy all day, slept soundly, feeling fully protected inside the cave. However, the biological clock formed over decades wasn’t easy to erase.

At dawn, Luo Chong naturally opened his eyes just like every morning in his previous life. This was his uninterrupted morning exercise time for over twenty years.

There was no need to mention his military days. In the current primitive era where wild beasts roamed freely, personal physical fitness was particularly important. Without a strong body, the death of yesterday’s chief served as a warning. Of course, the law of ‘not dying unless you try’ was perfectly demonstrated by the chief.

Luo Chong’s morning exercise wasn’t complicated. A set of basic military boxing routines was sufficient to strengthen his bones and muscles. More intense physical training was clearly beyond what a child could endure. After all, long-distance running and push-ups, which are extremely demanding exercises, consume a lot of salt, something Luo Chong hadn’t yet found in the tribe.

After finishing the set of boxing routines, Luo Chong actually broke a sweat on an autumn morning. He was thirsty again. All day long, drinking water required a trip to the river, and at night, they could only drink from a stone basin shared by a group of people.

He hesitated to drink from it. Unless forced to drink urine, hygiene should be maintained. However, a container for water needed to be devised. Otherwise, once winter arrived, they’d be stuck in the cave. Moreover, who could endure eating barbecued food every day? It seemed necessary to bake some clay pots. If there was a bowl of hot soup in winter, it would be quite delightful. Luo Chong thought about the upcoming plans.

As the sky brightened, the clan members came out, chatting among themselves. They were surprised to see Luo Chong outside the cave. Generally, cave-dwelling people rarely left the cave alone, especially since they feared the dark.

The clan members did not rush to hunt today. Instead, the elder with the ram horn gathered the adult males in the open space at the cave entrance. He held the green feather crown belonging to the chief, indicating that they were about to elect a new chief.

Luo Chong initially had no intention of paying attention. He was simply uninterested in that green feather hat, and as a child, he didn’t qualify to participate in such democratic elections.

But unfortunately, as the saying goes, “the tree wants to remain still, but the wind won’t stop.” Luo Chong was about to go to the small river to wash up and drink water when unexpectedly, One-Ear came rushing towards him, wielding a spear.

What the hell, you’re trying to cause trouble, aren’t you? Why are you running at me with that broken spear? I’m not your prey!

One-Ear waved the spear while yelling loudly and ran to Luo Chong in a few steps, dragging him towards the elder.

What’s going on? What do you want with me? I’m still a child! Luo Chong shamelessly thought.

After joining eight adults, the elder glanced at Luo Chong and began speaking, uttering the few words known in the tribe while gesturing and explaining.

It turned out that Luo Chong was called here to participate in the chief election. The reason was simple—they were forced to do so due to necessity. All the adult men in the tribe had to go hunting, but now only eight remained, including an old man, a lame man, and a foolish six-fingered individual. The remaining five main hunters had to support the fifty-plus people in the tribe. Without fresh blood joining the hunting team, they would struggle to survive the harsh winter ahead.

Although Luo Chong was underage, his ability to hunt terror birds independently yesterday had already been recognized by the tribe. After all, it was the largest prey ever recorded in the tribe.

In this era where humans were still insignificant and struggled daily for food, a fifty-person tribe was practically negligible. Even finding a random sheep herd might outnumber the tribe, and any wolf pack could surpass the tribe in combat capability. Not to mention the challenges posed by nature.

For a moment, Luo Chong felt a sense of responsibility and pressure to keep these fellow humans alive.